Because of Hester, the Bears remain able to talk like playoff contenders and dream they are worthy of returning to the Super Bowl, even though they are not.

"Being 6-6 in this conference is being right in the thick of things," Bears quarterback Rex Grossman said Sunday, after they had shocked the Denver Broncos, 37-34, in overtime at Soldier Field.

Never mind that Grossman is counting a win next week before the New York Giants even show up. The sad thing about the National Football Conference is Grossman is technically right. Of 16 NFC teams, six are 5-6 and tied for seventh place, just one game out of the last wild-card bid to the playoffs. And the unbearably wretched Bears are one of those teams.

Thanks to Hester.

This is where the purists remind us football is a team game; that blockers must block, and tacklers must tackle, and quarterbacks are nothing without receivers, and every successful play on either side of the line requires 11 men doing their jobs, and blah, blah, blah.

But here are the facts about Sunday’s game:

The Bears offense did nothing until the final three minutes of regulation and the overtime. Before the game-tying touchdown drive, the offense had advanced the ball into Broncos territory twice all day and Grossman had thrown for a piddling 113 yards.

The once-feared Bears defense did little but get run over by the Broncos. The Bears gave up 440 yards, two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns.

The Bears have Hester.

That last fact is all that mattered. For without Hester, last-minute heroics by the offense would have been as out of reach as back-to-back Super Bowl trips.

Todd Sauerbrun, who handles kickoff and punting chores for the Broncos, apparently couldn’t help himself last week, though. He had to talk smack about kicking to Hester, rather than kicking away from the second-year return specialist. Hester heard about it. He shrugged.

"Teams play mind games," Hester said. "Some say they’ll kick to you, and they don’t. Some say they won’t, and they do."

Hester doesn’t say much. He just catches the ball and bolts through opponents as if there is a rule that prohibits touching him.

Well, sometimes he catches the ball. In the first quarter Sunday, he stupidly slapped at a punt that bounced before he could get to it. He was trying to knock down the ball but instead created a fumble Denver recovered and turned into a field goal.

But when Sauerbrun punted after the Broncos’ first possession of the second half, Hester caught the ball and streaked 75 yards for a touchdown. He streaked so fast he needed 20 yards of the northwest tunnel from the field to slow down and stop after he reached the end zone.

That didn’t deter Sauerbrun, even after he had watched Hester hurdle him, the last would-be Denver tackler, 30 yards from the goal line. Later in the quarter, he kicked off to Hester again. And Hester took this one 88 yards for another TD.

"Sometimes the first one is a fluke," Hester offered as rationale for Sauerbrun’s machismo.

OK, Hester was asked, but would you kick to you?

"I don’t want to answer that question," he said.

Give Sauerbrun at least this much credit. He didn’t get burned a third time. The rest of the game, he kicked off along the ground and punted toward the sidelines. He admitted the only way to assure stopping Hester might be to kick the ball out of bounds.

Hester is the only thing great about the Bears right now. In fact, if not for Hester, the Bears would not be worth watching.

Because of him, though, they still have a playoff pulse. They probably have to win four of their final five games, if not run the table, to get there. And the truth is, they’re not good enough to do that.